When The Cicadas Fall Silent
by xxSPARTAN119xx
Summary: Six years have past since Satoko Houjou lost everything in the Great Hinamizawa Disaster. Now, a teenage Satoko is sent on an international exchange program to another mysterious town in the United States, Silent Hill. AU based on Disaster Awakening Chapter.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This is a work of fanfiction, I do not own Higurashi or Silent Hill. Higurashi is property of 07****th**** Expansion, Silent Hill is property of Konami. **

**This story takes place in a modified "Disaster Awakening Chapter" ending where Satoko wakes up from her coma but is not murdered, instead waking up with no memory of what happened. **

Near Silent Hill, Maine, 1989.

Satoko Houjou lay, half asleep on a seat on a bus travelling along a highway through a densely wooded, mountainous area somewhere in the US state of Maine. Rain pounded on the roof of the bus as lightning periodically lit up the night.

Satoko was in the United States as part of an international transfer student program. Satoko was assigned to spend a year attending a high school in a town in Maine called Silent Hill, and was nearly there, after spending the last day either in a plane or changing planes twice- once in Tokyo and once in Los Angeles.

Suddenly, Satoko heard the tires of the bus squeak loudly. The vehicle started sliding across the road, rousing Satoko, who reached for a handle on the side of the bus. The vehicle slid off the road entirely, tumbling off a small cliff, the vehicle flipping over and impacting with a crashing sound.

After a few second, Satoko opened her eyes. "Am I… still alive?", she asked herself as she got up, realizing she was standing on the ceiling of the bus – the bus was upside-down. Satoko walked over to nearest passenger, a man in his 30s. He appeared to have hit his head as the bus crashed, blood was smeared on ceiling where his head had landed. Satoko placed her hand on his neck, he didn't appear to have a pulse. He was dead, she realized.

Satoko walked to the end of the bus, the windshield had shattered. Large glass shards pierced the driver's chest and blood covered everything. He too was dead.

Suddenly, an image flashed into her mind, the image one of her old friends from Hinamizawa, Rika Furude, lying dead in a pool of blood on top of the shrine her family took care of.

"No…" Satoko thought, "Rika… Rika died a volcanic gas leak, the whole village did… I was the only survivor."

Satoko did not remember anything about the Hinamizawa incident. She had been told, after waking up from a coma one year after the incident that a volcanic gas leak had claimed the lives of everyone in the village, except her. Satoko was shocked and horrified of course, but by now, but she had gotten on with her life, "It was what Rika and the others would have wanted", she told herself many times, and so, Satoko told herself this yet again.

Satoko grabbed a first aid kit and map of Silent Hill lying next to the remains of the bus driver and stuffed them in her backpack. She didn't know why she took the first aid kit, but she got the feeling she might need it. Little did she know how right she was.

Satoko put on her raincoat and climbed through the broken windshield, being careful not to injure herself on the broken glass, and exited the bus. The bus had come to a stop by a tree, in the middle of a dense forest. The cliff the bus had fallen off was too tall to climb, especially at in the rain that pouring down. She had to find another way back to town.

Fortunately, Satoko found just that in the form of a trail leading along the edge of the cliff. It was very dark, the only illumination coming for what little moonlight filtered through the dark storm clouds, as well as the occasional flash of lightning. Satoko followed the trail for about 100 meters until she came to a wooden sign that read "Pilot Rock, 0.2 miles, Silent Hill, 0.3 miles".

"Good", Satoko thought, "At least I'm close to town. Wish I had a light source to use the map though".

As Satoko continued forwards, she thought she heard something moving in the bushes. Just as she turned around, a bright flash of lighting momentarily lit up the night sky. As it did, Satoko could have sworn she saw a dark figure move through the bushes.

"Hello", Satoko called out into the darkness, "Is anyone there?"

No one replied.

"Anyone?", Satoko said, "I've been in a bus accident, I need help."

Again, no one replied. After getting no response for a second time, Satoko walked further into the forest, assuming the sound and the dark figure must have been an animal, or perhaps her mind simply playing tricks on her.

Satoko walked further along the trail, until she found a lit flashlight lying on the ground. "Well", Satoko thought, "This is convenient".

Satoko knelt down and picked up the flashlight, and noticed there was something else lying next to the flashlight, a magazine, _Paranormal Investigator. _On the front cover were the words "The Ten Most Mysterious Places on Earth".

"But why would someone have this magazine here… unless…", Satoko thought as she flipped through the pages of the magazine. The cover article listed the usual places- Area 51, the Bermuda Triangle, as well as some less well known locations, most interesting to Satoko, however, were two particular entries: "Silent Hill, Maine, USA" and, Satoko gasped as she read it, "Hinamizawa, Japan".

Satoko knew of course about the rumors of the curse of Oyashiro-sama, but surely, the deaths had to be some kind of coincidence, right?

The article on Silent Hill read: "The town of Silent Hill, Maine is said to have many dark secrets lying beneath its picturesque surroundings on the shore of Toluca Lake. Mysterious disappearances, rumors of an doomsday cult involved kidnappings, murder, and human sacrifices, and tales of a gateway to an alternate dimension shroud the area in mystery."

Hinamizawa's article stated: "The abandoned village of Hinamizawa has been in the center of a military quarantine zone since the year 1983, when all of the town, save for one survivor perished mysteriously. While official reports state that the result of the disaster was a volcanic gas leak from a previously unknown vent in the nearby Onigafuchi swamp, the continued quarantine years after the event is not explained. Numerous other theories attribute the disaster of 1983 to secret testing of biological weapons by the JSDF in the area, the involvement of aliens, or the curse of the deity of the local Shinto shrine, Oyashiro."

Satoko had heard stories of the curse of Oyashiro, but she had never heard of any of the conspiracy theories, or the involvement of alien in Hinamizawa. She was sure it was the usual nonsense that these kind of magazines publish, and the same must be true for Silent Hill….

Suddenly, a chittering sound came from ahead of her on the trail. Satoko pointed the flashlight ahead of her and gasped in horror at what she saw. The dead body of what looked like a hiker lay collapsed on the ground in a pool of blood. On top of the dead body of the hiker stood something unlike anything Satoko had seen before.

Standing over the hiker's body was a creature similar to a gigantic insect, the flashlights rays reflecting off the shiny, black, chitinous integument. The creature had a rounded back similar to a beetles, but no signs of the wing covers normally seen on a beetle, instead, having a simple, rounded carapace. Where the mouth should have been, the creature that a long sharp object that was stuck in the body of the dead hiker, and it had two, sharp blade-like appendages on either side of its head.

As the creature pulled its long, sharp mouthparts out of its victim's body, Satoko realized it was a hollow tube like an oversized version of a mosquito's proboscis- used to suck blood. As soon as she thought this, the creature turned to her and lunged at her with frightening speed. Satoko let out a blood-curdling scream as the creature pinned her to ground, its sharp proboscis moving closer and closer to her neck.

Satoko had to do something if she wanted to live to see the next day. She felt a rock about the sized of a grapefruit near her left hand and, thinking quickly, seized the stone and struck it against the side of the creature's head. The creature let out a high-pitched shriek, but continued attacking. Satoko struck it in side of the head three more times. With the fourth blow, Satoko heard the crunch of breaking integument and felt the creature's head give way. The monster stopped moving, killed by the blunt trauma to the head.

Satoko pushed the remains of the creature the off of her and got up, pointing her flashlight towards, revealing that two more of the insect-like creatures about twenty feet ahead of her, presumably attracted by the sounds of the struggle.

Satoko looked around for any means of escape or anything she could use to defend herself. Next to the body of the hiker was an aluminum trekking pole, hardly an ideal weapon, but it was better then nothing. Satoko seized the pole just as the first of the two creatures lunged at her to attack. Satoko jumped out of the way, the creature landing a few feet from her. Satoko turned to face the monster, blocking a strike from its blade like arm. Then fueled on pure adrenaline, Satoko thrust the trekking pole forward like a spear, right into the creature's head, killing it.

Suddenly, Satoko felt something barely miss her leg. It was the blade-like forward appendage of the second insect-like monster. Satoko turned and brought the trekking pole down on the creature's head once, twice, three times, before thrusting the trekking pole through its head as she had with the other one.

Satoko walked away from the remains of the creatures that had attacked her, towards a rock spire not far in the distance. "That must be Pilot Rock", Satoko thought, "I must be close to town now".

The trail ran around the side of Pilot Rock. Satoko encountered no one else, human or monster. Not long after, she reached the trailhead, exiting onto the side of a road in the town of Silent Hill. The rain had by now slackened off, but was replaced by a dense fog that allowed a visibility of only twenty feet.

Satoko got out her map. She had to find the nearest police station. According to the map, she was in the Pleasant River neighborhood of Silent Hill, on the south side of the lake. The nearest police station should be the main police headquarters in the Centennial Building, a tall tower that, even through the fog, Satoko could make out the dark outline of, ominously rising out in the distance, distorted by the fog.

**New Items: **

**Silent Hill Map: **

**A map of the town of Silent Hill, including Pleasant River, Paleville, and South Vale, and Central Silent Hill**

**First Aid Kit x1:****A kit containing bandages, antiseptic, etc, for treating injuries.**

**Trekking Pole:**** An aluminum pole used as a walking stick when hiking. Not the best weapon, but is still capable of making rapid, if not particularly powerful strikes.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Higurashi or Silent Hill. Higurashi is property of 07****th**** Expansion, Silent Hill is property of Konami. **

Satoko Houjou walked north along the road, which was, according to a sign Satoko could only barely read through the fog, called "Saul Street". The entire place seemed deserted, and there were no lights on in any of the houses, in fact some of them were boarded up. All of the streetlights were also out.

After walking about 100 meters down the road, Satoko spotted the first the first sign of life in this deserted town, a person, only visible as a dark figure in the distance through the fog.

"Hey!", Satoko yelled, "Over here, I need help!"

The figure, however, just turned and walked into an alleyway coming off from the side of the street. Satoko sprinted over to the alley and turned, however, there was no sign of the figure.

"Hello?", Satoko turned down the narrow alley, which ran through a four-foot gap between two brick buildings, "Is anyone there?"

There was no answer. Satoko kept moving along the dark alley. She was sure she had seen someone here. She turned a corner, looking down an alleyway perpendicular to the one she was on. Around the corner, Satoko saw the figure again, only about twenty feet away.

"Hello?", Satoko said as she shone her flashlight on the dark figure. As the flashlight revealed the figure, Satoko felt her a chill down her spine. The figure was a man wearing normal enough clothing, but he was carrying an axe, furthermore, on his face, he wore a mask similar to the "demon masks" that were worn by the Shinto priests in the Furude Shrine during the Watanagashi Festival back in Hinamizawa… but why would they be wearing them here, half way around the world in a small town in Maine?

The masked man raised the axe and charged at Satoko. As he got closer, Satoko realized that the skin on his arms and neck, the only exposed areas, looked dead, decayed, almost zombie-like.

Satoko held the aluminum trekking pole she had taken earlier and tried to block the axe strike. The axe blade struck the pole, bent it, and snapped it in two. The axe kept falling, missing Satoko by centimeters and impacting the concrete between her legs with a flash of sparks. Satoko held the two broken ends of the trekking pole like daggers and thrust both of them into her attacker's chest. The axe man fell to his knees, then face down on the floor.

Satoko grabbed the man's axe, realizing that, if there were probably more things like the axe man and those insectiod monsters from earlier, she would need a weapon.

After the initial adrenaline rush, Satoko realized the full gravity of her situation. "I… I… killed him", she said to her self. Satoko contemplated running, "No… wait, that would make it worse, I should got to the police… It was self-defense, he was coming at me with an axe…"

At that moment, Satoko realized something else… the man she fought… his skin looked diseased, decayed… Satoko look down on at the body. Indeed, his skin did look rotted, decayed, and corpse-like, in spite of being so recently alive, smelled strongly of decay. Slowly, with much trepidation, Satoko removed the mask on his face… to reveal a face that had rotted away, parts of the bone being visible, the flesh having decayed.

"What the hell is going on here!", Satoko asked herself, "How was that man alive".

After a few seconds, Satoko regained composure. "Come on, Satoko", she thought to herself, "Whatever's going on, I need to get help. I have evidence, I'll show them the bodies of the "zombie (?)" and the those insect things, as soon as the police find them, they'll know I'm not crazy… then, they'll do something to take care of this…"

Satoko slowly walked forward, towards the exit to the alleyway, onto Brite Street. The shadow of the Centennial Building loomed large in the distance as she slowly walked towards it.

She made it a few hundred yards further down the road, to a major intersection between Brite Street and Lansdale Avenue, before she reached an intersection and stared in shock and confusion at what she saw. A great chasm had appeared in the middle of the road, blocking any further travel along the road.

"What the…", Satoko said out loud, "Was there an earthquake or something? Was that what forced the bus off the road?"

Satoko's thoughts were disturbed by a chittering sound coming form her right. Satoko turned just in time to see another of those insect-like monsters jump out an alley, jumping straight at her.

Satoko raised her axe over her face, blocking the attack by the monster, striking it the blunt end of the axe and forcing the creature to the ground. Satoko then raised the axe over her head, burying the blade into the creature. Satoko struck the monster three times, and then stomped on it as hard as she could, making sure it was dead.

After dispatching the creature, Satoko examined the map. The road alleyway that monster came out of should lead her to Cook Street, which she could then take down to Laymond Avenue, and up to the Centennial Building.

Satoko crept down the alleyway, her axe clutched firm in her hands, the weapon being her only source of security in the dark, deserted town of horrors that was Silent Hill.

Satoko made it down the alley and onto Cook Street without encountering any adversaries. Satoko was constantly on edge. It was almost scarier when you were alone than when you were being attacked.

Cook Street too was deserted, with no signs of anyone alive, only boarded up shops and abandoned vehicles. Finally, after only about twenty minutes, though it seemed like much longer, Satoko had made her way up Raymond Avenue and back onto Brita Street. She was now at the door to the Centennial Building.

The Centennial Building was easily the tallest structure in town, rising up 18 stories, with a massive clock on top. Above the entrance, large black wrought iron letters read: "Centennial Building", and below that "Silent Hill Municipal Complex".

Satoko with some trepidation, Satoko put down her axe, deciding it was best to leave the weapon before turning herself in, and opened the door, entering into the deserted foyer. There was nothing there but an empty front desk, and to the right and left of the desk two elevators.

"Maybe the receptionist doesn't work this late", Satoko said. On the opposite wall, Satoko examined a diagram of the tower. The diagram showed that the police headquarters and academy were on the third floor.

Satoko walked over to the elevator and pressed the button. Almost immediately, the elevator doors opened, revealing an open elevator. Satoko entered the elevator and pressed the "Third Floor" button. Slowly, the elevator ascended.

After about one minute, the elevator reached the third floor of the Centennial Building. The elevator door slowly opened to reveal the Silent Hill Police Headquarters in a state of disrepair. Satoko gasped at what she saw.

The window in front of the front desk was shattered, scattering broken glass on floor, there were bullet holes in the walls, most disturbingly, there was the dead body of a police officer lying on the ground, gun clutched in his hand, spent shell casings lying around him. Across the room lay the bullet-riddled body one of those zombie-like people (?) in _oni _masks that Satoko had encountered earlier, a kitchen knife lying next to them.

Satoko immediately grabbed the phone on the desk and pushed the "1" button.

"Wait a second", Satoko realized, "Its not 119 in America, its 911"

Satoko then hung up and dialed again, this time, dialing "911". Satoko waited several seconds before the phone connected, however, instead of an operator, she only got a deafening burst of static.

After a few seconds with no connection, Satoko put down the phone and took several deep breaths.

"OK, I need to get help", Satoko said, "I should try going to one of the other areas of town". Satoko got out the map. "Looks like South Vale is the next nearest.", Satoko thought.

Satoko grabbed the knife and the police officer's handgun and nightstick. Satoko then examined the gun. The weapon was, according to the label stamped on the slide, a Colt M1911 .45 Automatic handgun. After examining the pistol for a second, however, Satoko realized the barrel was damaged on the other side- a large dent in the barrel, as though it had been struck with a hammer or something.

Satoko put down the useless handgun and turned away from the corpse of the fallen police officer. As she did, she noticed a sign on a door reading "Police Academy, Armory, Firing Range".

"Excellent", Satoko thought, "Looks like I can find some firepower after all."

Satoko opened the door, and attempted to flip a light switch, but nothing happened.

"Must be broken", Satoko said to herself, "Good thing I have my flashlight.

Satoko walked down a hallway with a number of doors that appeared to be lecture rooms in the police academy, but Satoko couldn't be sure, as they were all locked. At the end of the hall was a door marked "Armory, Firing Range"

Satoko opened the door to find and indoor shooting range with several targets on one end of the range. Behind a counter on the other end of the room were several lockers. Most of them were empty, but one of them was closed.

Satoko attempted to open the locker, but it was locked with a combination lock controlled by a ten-number keypad. Below lying on the floor below the locker was a note

Satoko picked up note and read it: "If you want to open this locker, you must have the courage to face death four times over".

It was clearly some kind of clue to open the lock, but something about it didn't make sense… "But why would a police officer leave a clue to access his weapon lying around, and why would the clue be something like this?"

It took Satoko several seconds to notice what would be to many the most obvious thing that was unusual about the note: It was written in Japanese.

Between the article about Hinamizawa she found on the dead hiker in the woods, the monsters, the "zombies" in _oni _masks from the Watanagashi Festival, and now this, Satoko got the distinct feeling that someone in this town knew about her past, And that they were out to get her…

But that brought Satoko no closer to deciphering the riddle. She read through it again, stopping on the Japanese character for death, pronounced _shi._

"Wait a minute!", Satoko thought, "_ichi, ni, san, shi…. _1, 2, 3, 4". By some odd coincidence, the Japanese word for the number "four" was also _shi. _ In fact, in some Japanese horror movies, the number is associated with death.

"Face death for times over…", Satoko thought, "That was it! _Shi, shi, shi, shi…"_

Satoko pressed the "4" button on the keypad for times. The display above the keypad read "4444". Satoko pressed enter and heard the lock click. Satoko tried opening the door.

The locker door opened to reveal a handgun of the same kind as the destroyed pistol belonging to the dead officer in the room, a Colt Model 1911. This one was very much intact, and next to it were two magazines of .45 ACP and a roll of duct tape.

Satoko took the handgun and pocketed the magazines, as well as the duct tape, figuring it might come in useful.

Suddenly, Satoko turned around, hearing a chittering sound behind her. Satoko turned to see four of the monsters that looked like oversized insects she had faced earlier coming at her from beyond the shooting range.

Satoko turned towards them and pressed down a switch on the pistol that she hoped was the safety, before taking aim the first monster, which was only about 15 feet away. As Satoko pulled the trigger, the Colt M1911 let out a loud report and recoiled more than Satoko expected as it sent a .45 caliber round flying towards the creature. The insect like creature was struck in the center mass, causing it to shriek loudly, but the monster kept advancing. Satoko realigned her shot and fired again, putting another slug into the monster. This time, the creature stopped moving, falling to the floor, dead.

Emboldened by her success, Satoko turned the gun towards her next target and said, "Haha, more target practice!" as she fired two more shots, killing the creature. The third monster fell to three more gunshots.

Satoko took aim at the last of the insectiod creatures, now only about four feet away, and pulled the trigger, but heard only the click of an empty chamber.

"Shit!", Satoko said, as she dropped the pistol and drew the kitchen knife and nightstick she had found earlier, wielding the knife in her right hand the nightstick in her left. Satoko struck the creature in the top of the head as it prepared to lunge at her, halting its attack in stunning it as it let out a high-pitched shriek.

Satoko then thrust her knife in the back of the creature first once, then twice, three times, four times. She lost count of how many times she had stabbed the monster, punching through its exoskeleton and covering her hands with hemolymph.

Satoko breathed heavily several times before she got up and retrieved her handgun. Satoko examined her the weapon closely yet again, finding the second switch on the handle, the magazine release.

The magazine fell out onto the floor as Satoko loaded another seven-round magazine into the pistol.

"Looks like the gun only has seven rounds of ammunition in the magazine.", Satoko thought, "I should save ammo for the tougher enemies. If only I had a better melee weapon…"

It was at that moment that Satoko remembered the duct tape from the cupboard. Satoko pulled the tape out of her pocket. As she did, she felt something on attached to the roll. On closer inspection, it turned out there was a piece of paper attached to the tape.

Satoko pocketed the paper and got back to her immediate task. She wrapped the duct tape around the nightstick and the knife handle, with the blade sticking off the end of the nightstick. It wasn't the best weapon, but it would last until she found something better… Satoko hoped so, anyway.

With her new melee weapon complete, Satoko turned her attention to the paper. It too was in Japanese. It was an official-looking typed document, with much of the text redacted with the permanent marker. Satoko stared in shock at the document. The document read:

TOP SECRET, LEVEL FIVE SECURITY CLEARANCE ONLY

_Report Pertaining to Operation (REDACTED)_

_On the night of (REDACTED), (REDACTED) personnel entered (REDACTED) and (REDACTED) Codename R by means of (REDACTED), imitating (REDACTED) in order to maintain (REDACTED). Upon the (REDACTED) of Codename R, Level 5 (REDACTED) manifested in the (REDACTED) of (REDACTED). (REDACTED) personnel responded within (REDACTED) to commence Operation (REDACTED), the (REDACTED) of (REDACTED). (REDACTED) were (REDACTED) into several (REDACTED) points in the (REDACTED) area, at which point (EXTENDED REDACTED SECTION)._

Satoko couldn't really tell what it all meant with all the redactions, but it was clear to her that, if this paper was real, the people who wrote this paper had something to hide. And then there was the issue of the paper being written in Japanese… Why was it here, in Silent Hill? Satoko was convinced that someone in this town was trying to mess with her head.

"Whoever's been leaving this stuff", Satoko thought as she walked back down the hall, into the lobby, "I'll find them. They're not going the have the satisfaction of destroying me!"

Satoko walked over to the elevator and pressed the button, planning to go back down the first floor and exit the tower and keep going until she found someone who was still alive.

Satoko's mind was changed, however, when she saw a poster on the wall next to the elevator. The poster stated:

"The Mysteries of Silent Hill", New exhibit. Town Museum, 12th floor, Centennial Building".

It was a long shot, but it maybe that exhibit might have something, anything that would shed some light on what was going on in this town. With that thought in mind, Satoko pressed the call elevator button.

**New Items:**

**Woodcutting Axe**** (discarded by Centennial Building): An axe meant for splitting logs, the axe has a heavy head and a handle of about a meter in length. It makes of an unwieldy weapon, but a hit can be devastating. **

**Nightstick: ****A wooden, tonfa-shaped nightstick. This is a standard police-issue nightstick used as a melee weapon when use of a firearm is not appropriate, typically used in a non-lethal manner.**

**Kitchen Knife: ****A knife with a triangular blade used for cutting food. A knife such as this can be found in just about any kitchen. **

**Duct Tape: **** Strong, water-resistant multipurpose tape. Useful for numerous of applications. It's practically a universal repair tool!**

**Bladed Nightstick: ****A weapon created by using the duct tape to attach the knife to the nightstick to create a weapon with a powerful thrusting attack. The tape won't hold forever, but it should last for while. **

**Colt Model 1911 (7/7): ****The Colt Model 1911 is a venerable, reliable .45 ACP handgun in service with the US military through both World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam. The gun had good stopping power and a range of about 50 meters, but its seven-round magazine is shallower than some newer handguns. In addition, ammunition may be difficult to find.**

**Redacted Document: **

**An official-looking document written in Japanese. Most of the text is redacted, making it impossible to get any meaning out of it… But why is it here?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: This is a work of fanfiction, I do not own Higurashi or Silent Hill. Higurashi is property of 07****th**** Expansion, Silent Hill is property of Konami. **

The light above the elevator door labeled "12" turned on and the door slowly opened. Satoko Houjou walked out of the elevator, into the deserted town museum, flashlight in one hand and her combination nightstick-knife weapon in the other, the weight of the Colt M1911 pistol and the extra magazine in her pocket.

Satoko walked through the entranceway to the Silent Hill Historical Museum, into the dark exhibit halls. The light from Satoko's flashlight reflected off several glass display cases of Native American artifacts, including pottery and stone arrowheads.

On the wall of the room was a painting of what the shores of Toluca Lake might have looked like in the era prior to the arrival of Europeans. Satoko shined her flashlight on a paragraph of text on the wall:

"_Prior to the arrival of Europeans to present-day Silent Hill, the area was significant to local Native Americans, who knew it as "The Place of Silent Spirits". Evidence has been found that they performed various religious rites and rituals in the area, particularly in the cave system that would later become known as "Devil's Pit", a cave system under the Saratoga Mountains on the shore of Toluca Lake."_

Satoko found information was somewhat interesting, apparently Silent Hill had a local mythology surrounding it just like Hinamizawa, but it shed no light on what she was experiencing in the town.

Satoko continued into the next room. It was devoted the early European settlement of Silent Hill. Rows of display cases showed various household items and personal effects dating back the 1600s and 1700s. Apparently, there were two attempts to settle on the shores of Toluca Lake, one in the late 1600s, and once in the 1730s however, both of them were foiled by sudden outbreaks of influenza causing massive death tolls among the colonists. The town of Silent Hill proper was not founded until about 1810, when a prison was built on Toluca Lake, followed by a hospital to deal with the sick in the prison. Brookhaven Hospital in the South Vale neighborhood was apparently located on the site of the old prison hospital.

Satoko moved on, finding nothing of interest, before crossing a room with displays of multiple artifacts related to mining in the area in the 19th century, including an ore cart from the Devil's Pit Mine. Just as Satoko wondered if she had wasted her time coming here, she found a sign next to the entranceway to the next exhibition hall.

The sign read: "The ahead exhibits, "The Mysteries of Silent Hill" and "Prisons of Silent Hill" contain content which some views might find disturbing."

Satoko walked into the next exhibit hall, undeterred by the sign. The exhibit, "The Mysteries of Silent Hill", featured exhibits on various disappearances in the town, including the disappearance of tourist boat called _The Little Baroness _on Toluca Lake during the early 20th century.

However, the exhibit that immediately drew Satoko's attention was an exhibit that was centered around an odd circle with three smaller circles and other symbols in the center and runic writing Satoko could not understand around the edge. Next to the symbol was a painting of a woman in red, as well as a number of old books and a black, obsidian goblet.

The exhibit was labeled, "The Order", Silent Hill's Mysterious Cult".

The exhibit stated that:

"_Since at least the 19__th__ century, there has existed a cult in Silent Hill known as "The Order". While little-known outside of the town, The Order are rumored have significant power behind the scenes in Silent Hill. The Order's belief system, based on the beliefs of the local Native Americans, along with Judeo-Christian influences, centers around their primary deity, a goddess typically depicted in red, as seen in the painting above. The exhibit stated that the Order believe the goddess came into existence when two humans prayed to be saved from them from their prior existence of pain, suffering, and chaos. The goddess created the world as we know it today, both physically, as well as concepts such as time, life, and death. However, she was unable to truly create a paradise on earth. The Order believes their goddess will return, bringing about the apocalypse and ushering the faithful into paradise."_

Satoko read the informative text with interest. It seemed like Silent Hill, like Hinamizawa, had rumors of cults of local deities. The next segment told the history of the Order:

"_The Order gained major negative press in 1903, when it was revealed that they were in control of the town's law enforcement and courts, and were known to carry out death sentence for non-capital crimes, and carried out torture and executions using particularly cruel methods including decapitation and impalement in the nearby Toluca Prison. Several high-ranking members of the Order were convicted of multiple murders and were executed by hanging, with several others receiving lengthy prison sentences. Artifacts from this dark period in the history of Silent Hill can be seen in the "Prisons of Silent Hill" exhibit. After the atrocities committed in the town of Silent Hill, many wanted The Order to be forcibly disbanded, however, a federal district court ruled that, under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, the government did not have the authority to prohibit practice of the beliefs of the Order themselves, only the offenses committed in their name. To this day, the Order is still present, though they deny any accusations of illegal activities. Nonetheless, rumors of Order involvement in murder, kidnapping, and drug trafficking remain._

"Looks like Hinamizawa isn't the only place with rumors of ancient, murderous cults.", Satoko thought. As Satoko turned the next section, she audibly gasped at what she read:

_The Power of Silent Hill_

_Since the first arrival of Europeans in the area, there have been records of mysterious events in the town of Silent Hill – people disappearing only to turn up later telling tales about being trapped in a nightmarish parallel world. This world has been described by those who claim to have experienced it as existing in a variety of forms, the most common being a deserted, abandoned version of the town of Silent Hill covered in an unnatural fog and inhabited by nightmarish creatures. Others have described an even more horrifying "nightmare world", in which the town undergoes major transformations, sometimes taking on a structure completely different from the town itself. The descriptions of this "Otherworld" vary somewhat between various reports, though common features included rusted metal cages, blood stains, corpses, implements of torture and execution, horrific creatures, and even phenomena that seem to defy the laws of physics and nature itself. Most dismiss reports of the "parallel worlds" as the delusions of the mentally ill, however, the presences of a nightmarish "Otherworld" is a common theme in the mythology of the Order. _

"The monsters… the fog", Satoko thought, "does this mean that I am in a parallel world? But what about the _oni _masks on those "zombies" and the documents in Japanese… Could it be I am somehow shaping the nightmare world I see? Or wait… could it be that someone… or something in this town is trying to drive me insane? Or am I already insane!"

Uncomfortable thoughts whirled around in Satoko's head, her heart going faster than she could ever remember. It took several deep breaths before she finally calmed down.

"Get a hold of yourself, Satoko", she said to herself, "This is exactly what whoever is behind this wants." Filled with sudden resolve, Satoko shouted, "You're not going to beat me that easily! You hear me!"

As if in response to Satoko's declaration, Satoko heard footsteps in the next room. Satoko raised her flashlight and her improvised "nightstick-dagger" and walked into the next room. She scanned everywhere, trying the find the source of the footsteps, but there was no one there.

The next room was the "Prisons of Silent Hill" exhibit. There were artifacts from the pre-Civil War-era prison and an early to mid-20th century prison on an island in Toluca Lake called Overlook Penitentiary. But the display that caught Satoko's attention was the display surrounding Toluca Prison.

According to the display, the prison was built in tunnels along shores of Toluca Lake in 1863, originally for holding Confederate POWs during the Civil War. After the end of the Civil War in 1865 and the release of the last POWs in 1866, Toluca Prison was used to hold common criminals. As the display in the previous room stated, the cult known as The Order quickly gained control over the prison, as well as the local police and courts, and used the prison for their own corrupt purposes, committing atrocities such as torture, and executions using particularly horrific methods, including beheadings, impalement, and even drawing and quartering. This went on until 1903, when information about the atrocities going on behind prison walls leaked out and the prison was shut down and the ringleaders were themselves executed or imprisoned.

But the thing the most shocked Satoko was not the textual display, but the actual artifacts in the display case. The centerpiece of the display was a large, two-handed sword at least as long as Satoko was tall, with a blade shaped a bit like an oversized kitchen knife. The plaque next to the sword read:

_Toluca Prison Executioner's Sword_

_19__th__ Century_

_The large, two-handed sword in this exhibit was used by executioners belonging to The Order in Toluca Prison during the latter half of the 19__th__ century. The weapon was used for beheadings, as well as one of the most brutal forms of execution carried out in Toluca Prison, drawing and quartering. The weapon is modeled after the weapon of figure in Order mythology known as the "Divine Executioner", who is said to seek out and kill criminals whose crimes went unpunished. _

Next to the sword, was another artifact, a large pyramid-shaped piece of metal with a single small hole near the top and front. The label stated that it was:

_Toluca Prison Executioner's Helmet_

_19__th__ Century_

_This pyramid-shaped steel helmet was the standard head covering for executioners in Toluca Prison during its time under Order control. The helmet is modeled after a similar helmet of the "Divine Executioner" of Order mythology. The sword, displayed to the right, and the spear, to the left, are modeled after the weapons of the aforementioned figure. _

The other objects in the display case consisted of shackles, ball and chains, a spear used for execution by impalement, and several guns used by prison guards. As Satoko finished looking at the artifacts, the sounds of footsteps behind her sent a chill down Satoko's spine. But these were not the footsteps she heard earlier, these were much louder, practically shaking the floor. Satoko turned around slowly, clutching the improvised weapon she had made from the nightstick and the knife, apprehensive at what she might see.

What Satoko sent made Satoko's heart pound so rapidly it felt like it was about to explode. A vaguely humanoid creature about ten feet tall stood in the entrance to the exhibit hall. The monster's body was a covered in a rough, yellowish-brown skin, with large, muscular arms and legs, and an exaggeratedly large fists covered in bone plates.

Satoko realized her "nightstick-knife" would be little help against this creature and drew her Colt M-1911, taking aim at the creature as it charge forward with thunderous footfalls. Satoko fired the handgun, the round blowing a hole in its torso and causing the creature to recoil slightly, but the monster recovered in less than a second, and continued charging forward. The next two rounds Satoko fired into the monster seemed only to further infuriate it.

Satoko felt the wind get knocked out of her as the monster slammed into her stomach, knocking her back into the display case, shattering the glass in front of it.

As the monster raised its massive fist, Satoko flashed back to the time when she was ten, still living the town of Hinamizawa. Her abusive uncle Teppei shouted at her, and raised his fist at her and struck her in the mouth, knocking her to the floor.

"_Nii Nii", _the past Satoko said, a nickname she used for her older brother, Satoshi, based off the Japanese _onii-chan- _older brother.

Satoshi ran into the room and stood between Teppei and Satoko. Teppei, however, simply knock Satoshi aside with a powerful swing of his fist and advanced on the still downed Satoko as the flashback ended.

Satoko was now a teenager again, lying slumped against as display case, with an inhuman horror about the crush under its gargantuan fist. The flashback was over, but still, in her mind, Satoko saw the creature as Teppei.

As the creature prepared to strike, Satoko yelled "No! Not this time!".

Fueled by adrenaline and rage, Satoko seized the "Executioner's Sword" in the display case with both hands and thrust it forward, straight through the chest of her foe.

Satoko took several deep breaths as "Teppei" disappeared, turning back into the giant monster, which fell dead to the floor, shaking the whole room.

After taking a few seconds to catch her breath, Satoko felt a sharp pain in her side. She had not realized in the fight that she now had a gash across her side, no doubt cut by the shattering glass. Satoko lifted her shirt up and shone her flashlight on the wound, revealing the gash at about stomach-level.

There wasn't a large amount of blood coming out of the wound, and it didn't seem to be very deep. Nonetheless, Satoko opened up the first aid kit she had found when she exited the crashed bus back in the woods and got out a bottle of antiseptic.

Satoko applied the antiseptic to a cotton ball and cleaned the wound, wincing at the burning sensation of the antiseptic on the wound. Satoko then wrapped a bandage around her torso, covering the cut, before she lowered her shirt back over her stomach.

Satoko put away the partially used first aid kit and retrieved her pistol from the floor. It seemed undamaged, though she now only had four rounds in the current magazine and one reserve mag. The same could not be said of the improvised "nightstick dagger", which was crushed under the feet of the monster.

Satoko tried to grab the "Executioner's Sword", but it was took heavy, and was lodged firmly into the monster's body. After pulling as hard as she could, she gave up and looked around for another melee weapon.

Satoko quickly found this in the form of the tip of the spear from the display case, the shaft having been broken by the charging creature, leaving only the head and about two feet of shaft. Still, it was better than nothing.

In addition the new weapon, Satoko also found another first aid kit in a glassed-in cabinet next to a fire extinguisher. As she collected the first aid kit, Satoko heard as another series of footsteps coming from behind her, towards the entrance previous gallery and the only entrance and exit.

Satoko clutched her spear firmly as she shone the flashlight into the next room and saw… nothing, there was no one there. Satoko moved into the next gallery cautiously, checking the corners for any hidden foes.

She found none, but when she reached the entrance to the next gallery, she thought she heard faster footsteps- someone… or something running. Satoko pointed her flashlight in the directions. This time, she saw something… A dark figure ran across her field of view, to quickly for her to get a good look at it.

Satoko thought about calling out to the figure, but after what she had found in this town, she though better of it. Instead, she clutched the broken spear handle and moved forward, into the room, checking the corners with her flashlight, ready to either to thrust the spear forward or drop it and draw her pistol if she met anything that warranted expending her meager supply of ammunition.

But there was nothing there- the museum was deserted.

"I could have sworn I saw something", Satoko thought as she pressed the button for the elevator. The elevator doors opened immediately, and Satoko pressed the button for the first floor lobby, trying the clear her mind of the mysterious figure.

After a few minutes, the elevator door opened. The light said this was the first floor, but wherever she was, Satoko was sure of one thing: This was not the first floor lobby of the Centennial Building.

**New Items:**

**Executioner's Sword ****(discarded in body of enemy): A large, heavy, two-handed sword that looks a bit like a giant kitchen knife. According to the museum display, the sword was use for brutal, illegal, Order-mandated executions during a period in the late 19****th**** century when entire local criminal justice system in Silent Hill was under the control of The Order. **

**Broken Spear: ****A spear with the shaft broken to only about two feet in length. It may not have the length it once hand, but its still a deadly thrusting weapon. The Order also apparently used this weapon for executions. **

**M-1911 Ammunition: ****4/7 (one partial magazine, one full magazine)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: This is a work of fanfiction, I do not own Higurashi or Silent Hill. Higurashi is property of 07****th**** Expansion, Silent Hill is property of Konami. **

Satoko Houjou walked out of the door, into a dark, narrow corridor. The walls appeared to have been roughly hewn from stone, as though this was an old mine shaft or other underground tunnel.

"Where the hell am I?", Satoko asked herself. Had she gotten off on the wrong floor?

"No", Satoko thought, "That's impossible, why would a modern building have this for a basement? It seems impossible, but… I'm here…"

Satoko turned around and tried pressing the call elevator button. Nothing happened. After several minutes, the elevator remained motionless.

"OK, Satoko thought, "Calm down, there must be a staircase somewhere."

As she turned around to face the dark corridor beyond, Satoko heard footsteps coming from deeper into the tunnel. As Satoko shone her flashlight ahead of her, she saw a familiar, but not at all welcome sight, a zombie-like figure in an _oni_ mask wielding a hammer, come walking around a corner.

Satoko readied her short spear- actually once a longer spear with all but a few feet snapped off- and advanced on the enemy, confident she could defeat it with her longer weapon.

As Satoko approached, the "masked man" swung the hammer, but missed, striking the wall of the tunnel, creating sparks as it impacted. At that moment, Satoko made her move, thrusting her spear in her attacker's body with a squelching sound.

The enemy tried to attack Satoko again, but Satoko pulled the spear out violently, causing further internal trauma, tearing the monster's putrid flesh and spraying blood. The masked "zombie" fell to its knees and the to the floor. Satoko stuck her spear in again, making sure it was dead.

When she was satisfied her adversary was dead, Satoko ignored the blood stains on her clothing and stepped over the body. It was amazing how quickly one could get used to committing such acts of violence. Then again, when the targets of said brutality were inhuman horrors that wished the same on you…

Satoko sidestepped around the corner, so as to avoid being surprised by any enemies that may be lying in wait. The corridor, however, was empty. The narrow passage ended in the opening to a large chamber.

As Satoko entered the chamber, her nose was assaulted by the stench of rotting flesh. Looking around her, she gasped in horror, seeing that room had numerous implements of torture and execution inside, all of them stained with blood, and two of them had the bodies of their latest victims still in place.

In the center of the room was a wooden table shaped like the silhouette of a human body, with arms and legs extending out from the center. On the table lay a horrifically mutilated body, which had clearly undergone a gruesome torture, having nails driven into every joint in his fingers, before having his stomach cut open and his intestines torn out, being left to bleed to death after he had been disemboweled.

In one corner of the room was an iron maiden, opened to reveal the dead body still inside, pierced by countless spikes in all parts of their body. Satoko heard the creaking and swinging of chains above her. Satoko looked up to see several man-sized metal cages above her, all of them stained with blood.

Suddenly, something dropped down on Satoko, falling right on top of her, knocking her to the ground, causing her to drop her spear. Satoko looked up, finding herself face to face with one of those giant, blood-sucking insects, its sharp proboscis less than a foot from her throat.

Satoko struck the creature in face as hard as she could with the blunt end of the flashlight, stunning it long enough for her to grab the spear from the ground and thrust it into the monster's face. The insect-like creature let out a final screech before it fell down, dead.

Satoko pushed her dead foe off her body and hurriedly walked out of the chamber, her heart still pounding from the last encounter. The next corridor was much like the last, empty and still, the only sound that of dripping water somewhere in the tunnels.

The tunnels wound onwards, around corner after corner. After about two or three bends, Satoko thought she heard footsteps. Sure enough, around the next corner, a "masked man" with a knife lunged at her. Satoko, however, was ready, and thrust her spear forward. The spear, while shortened to only about two feet, was still longer than the knife, and allowed Satoko to easily dispatch the enemy with a couple rapid thrusts the chest.

Having slain the enemy, Satoko advanced forward, into an area of the hallway that was wider, by several feet. As Satoko stepped into the widened area of the corridor, she heard the sound of metal grinding against stone.

Satoko jumped out of the way just in time to avoid a number of spikes, which sprouted from the wall and thrust across the corridor. Satoko gasped in shock as the spike trap activated. Had she not jumped backwards, Satoko would have been impaled.

"Where the hell am I!", Satoko asked herself again, though she knew she would receive no answer. Wherever she was, she was definitely not in the Centennial Building any more- "Modern city halls do not have implements of torture and spike traps that look like something out of Indiana Jones in the basement!"

After about five seconds, the spikes retracted back into the wall. Still, Satoko dared not move forward, lest the spikes suddenly sprout forth from the wall and impale her.

After about five seconds, the spike trap retracted. Five more seconds, it deployed. After watching the pattern repeat several times, Satoko figured this had to be it, a timing puzzle. The area covered by the spikes was plenty short enough to run across.

As soon as the spikes retracted into the wall, Satoko sprinted across the roughly ten foot length of spikes. Satoko made it across about a second before the spikes activated again.

"Ha", Satoko said, feeling confident, "You're going to have to do better than that if you want to trap Satoko Houjou!".

Satoko should know something about traps- in her childhood in Hinamizawa, she used to play jokes on her friends by setting traps for them, one of her favorites being one that, in hindsight, might have been dangerous- one that dropped a pot onto the unfortunate victim's head.

Beyond her was a T-junction in the corridor. Satoko slowly and cautiously towards the junction, looking first left and then right. There was nothing in either direction, except two heavy wooden doors at the end of a short corridor, one in each direction. After several seconds of deciding, Satoko made a decision: she was going right.

Satoko walked up to the large wooden door and pulled on the handle. Slowly, and with some effort on Satoko's part the door creaked open. Satoko pointed her flashlight into the room. It was a small chamber, carved into the stone like the rest of the underground complex. The room appeared to be an armory- gun racks, though they were all empty, were placed along the wall. There were, however, three magazines on a shelf that looked like they would fit in her Colt M1911.

Satoko stepped through the door, into the room. Suddenly, she felt something hook on to her spear. She turned to see another of those "zombies" in _oni _masks armed with scythe, having hooked onto her spear. The masked "zombie" pulled Satoko's spear away from her, causing it to drop to the floor as two of its fellows, armed with knives, appeared from dark corners and rounded on Satoko.

Satoko reached for her Colt M1911 as the enemy with the scythe raised his weapon for another strike. Satoko drew pistol and stuck the barrel right against its mask and pulled the trigger. The gun went off with a loud report, blowing straight through the enemy's head, sending a spray of blood and brain matter out the other side.

The "zombie" with the scythe fell to the floor, dead. Satoko shifted her aim to the nearer of the two knife wielders and fired twice, dropping the enemy to the floor to join its fellow. Satoko then repeated the performance with the final "zombie". This time, however, the report of the pistol was followed by the click of an empty chamber – Satoko had forgotten she had only four rounds left in the magazine.

The final "masked man" in the room had been struck by a bullet, but he kept advancing on Satoko, knife in hand. Satoko quickly dropped the empty pistol and seized her dead adversary's scythe. Satoko swung the blade in a wide arc, connecting with her foe's neck in a spray of blood as the masked "zombie" fell to the floor.

Satoko took four deep breaths, before she picked up her pistol off the ground and removed the empty magazine. She took one of the magazines on the shelf and shone her flashlight on it, revealing it to be identical to the one that was in her M1911.

Satoko slid the magazine into the grip of her gun and pulled back the slide, chambering the first round. Satoko then grabbed the other two magazines and put them in her left pants pocket, with the M1911 stored in her right, before she picked up the scythe, deciding its longer handle- about five feet long, would make it a more effective weapon for keeping enemies at a distance.

Having collected the ammunition and weapons, Satoko backtracked to the T-junction and walked into the second door. This door led onto a ledge above a wide, open, roughly dome-shaped room carved into the rock. The ledge ran down the side of the room to the floor. Spaced along the side of the ledge, there were several of what appeared to be prison cells carved into the rock.

Satoko walked toward that first cell when, suddenly, a figure burst out literally about a foot in front of her, its face covered in an _oni _mask and its skin decayed and dead-looking. It was yet another of the masked undead horrors that Satoko had become all too familiar with since she entered the town of Silent Hill.

"AAAHH!", Satoko let out a scream as she jumped backwards in fright.

The "zombie" raised a large _tanto_- a Japanese-style dagger- and prepared to thrust it into Satoko's torso. Satoko was too close to make a proper swing with the scythe, so, thinking quickly, she thrust the blunt end of the handle into the stomach of the masked "zombie", causing the creature to stumble backward.

Satoko then brought the scythe forward in a vertical arc, the blade catching the enemy right in the face, punching through the mask and into his head, killing the zombie instantly.

Satoko kept moving down the ledge, sidestepping in front of each cell with flashlight at the ready. The next two prison cells were empty, but in the third, she caught a couple of those weird five-foot long blood-sucking insects by surprise, striking one in the back of the head with the scythe and then using the blade as a hook to the flip the second "insect" monster, before killing it by slashing the scythe blade into its soft underbelly three times, until it stopped moving.

It was in the final prison cell before the exit that she found something as shocking as any monster, albeit less dangerous- a dismembered corpse. Satoko had to use all her strength to stop herself from throwing up then and there- the stench of death and decay was overpowering. The body had been hacked apart, covering the whole floor of the cell with blood, the limbs having been cut apart into several pieces, the torso being ripped open, shreds of bloodstained clothing all over the place. The thing that shocked Satoko the most, however, was the face on the severed head that lied above the torso.

It was a face that Satoko remembered from years ago, from her time in Hinamizawa. The body had to be none other than that of Mion Sonozaki… either that, Satoko thought, or it could have been Shion, Mion's twin sister….

But, this couldn't be Mion or Shion, they both died in the volcanic gas leak. And furthermore, it was hard to tell, but the body appeared to have the proportions of a teenager, as the Sonozaki twins would have been in 1983. They'd be in their early twenties if they had survived.

This had to be someone else, who had been murdered in a grisly manner and set up to look like one of the Sonozaki twins.

"But why would someone do this?", Satoko thought.

She could come up with only one solution: "Someone in this place is trying to drive me insane, trying to destroy me from the inside!"

"Whoever did this, your not going to get away this!", Satoko shouted furiously to the room at large, "I'm not going to let you fuck with my head!"

Satoko received no response, not even an enemy approaching her in an attempt to attack.

After several minutes of silence, Satoko walked out of the large "dungeon chamber", into the narrow hallway leading to a dead end in a sort of well shaft. In the center of the well shaft was an open cage, easily large enough for Satoko to stand in.

Satoko moved closer, realizing the cage was tethered to a chain, and inside was…

"A button!", Satoko thought, "This must be an elevator. Hopefully it will take me out of this place!"

Satoko, however, hesitated before entering. "What if this was a trap?". Satoko scanned the entrance, the chain above the elevator, the walls next to it. She saw no hidden tripwires or switches, no hidden explosives, no spike traps, no objects rigged to fall on the unfortunate victim, no rotating blades.

Finally, Satoko decided there was nothing to be gained by staying in this dark, monster-infested dungeon, and walked unto the elevator. Chains rattled as Satoko pressed the button, as the door closed and the elevator slowly ascended.

The ride up was unnerving, the elevator swung around wildly, at times, the chains sounded like they were going to collapse. Suddenly, Satoko felt something impact the elevator causing it to swing a good five feet in either direction. The flashlight in her chest pocket revealed the cause of the suddenly swing to be one of those insectoid monsters, having jumped from the wall of the shaft onto the elevator.

Satoko practically jumped to the other side of the elevator, shaking the suspended cage further. She wasted no time slicing at the creature with her scythe, slicing the underside of its body open and causing it to fall off the elevator, dead.

A couple seconds later, Satoko felt something graze her side… something that turned out to be the blade-like appendage of one of the insect-like monsters.

"Get the hell off!", Satoko yelled as she thrust the blunt her scythe's pole behind her, knocking the enemy off the elevator. After less than as second, she heard it hit the ground with a crunch of breaking exoskeleton and the splatter of its soft innards.

After slaying a third monster with the blade of her scythe, the elevator finally reached the top, a ledge with a door leading away from the elevator. Satoko exited quickly, not wanting to spend any longer on that elevator, but opened the wooden door on top warily, in case more enemies lay in wait.

The next room was different from the roughly hewn, stone walled dungeon. This chamber has a tiles running up the wall to about waist height, an above that, walls made of vertical wooden boards.

The contents of the room, however, were much in the style of the rest of the mysterious dungeon Satoko had traveled through- the room was centered a blood-stained wooden table with restraints for arms and legs. The walls were covered with racks of knives, swords, scythes, thumbscrews, vices, whips, chains, various spiked objects, and other implements of torture Satoko had not seen before… and did not want to know their purpose.

Most terrifying to Satoko, however, was a blood-stained wooden cross standing against the wall of the room. Chained to the cross was a figure, only a child, who appeared to have been stabbed repeatedly with a knife in the arms and shoulder until she bled to death. The figure's face, her hair, were all too familiar to Satoko.

She know who this was… "Me?", Satoko asked in a shocked in a confused voice. The dead body on the cross was obviously her childhood self.

Suddenly, Satoko heard footsteps behind her. "Yes", a female voice said in Japanese, "That is, or should have been you!"

Satoko turned around to see a figure step into the light of her flashlight, to reveal a girl of about 16. Satoko recognized her instantly, she was just as she remembered her in Hinamizawa.

"Sonozaki Shion?", Satoko asked, speaking the names in the traditional Japanese order, family name, then given name, "No you can't be Shion… Shion Sonozaki is dead!"

"Me… It is you who deserve to die, no, deserved to have died long ago, and you know why… do you realize your sin!", "Shion" asked furiously as she drew a hunting knife.

"You, always crying and calling to your _nii-nii, _did your ever stop to realize how much of a burden you were putting on Satoshi-kun? YOU PARASITE!", "Shion" said.

"How could she know that?", Satoko though, "How could she know the nickname I used for my older brother, Satoshi?" During her childhood in Hinamizawa, Satoko used to call Satoshi _"nii-nii", _a child-like shortening of _onii-chan, _or "older brother" in Japanese.

"Listen, I don't know who you are, or why you've come after me", Satoko said to "Shion"… no the imposter pretending to be Shion, "But I am not a child anymore. I've learned to rely on my self! I know, if Satoshi was still alive, he would be proud of me, everyone would!"

Shion shouted in rage as she lunged at Satoko with her knife. Satoko placed her left hand in front of her face. The blade sunk into her hand, sending a sharp pain through her body as the cold steel drove into her flesh.

Satoko let out a scream of pain, but regained composure in less than a second, drawing her pistol from her right pocket and pointing the weapon at "Shion" and pulling the trigger twice. The Colt Model 1911 recoiled in her hand as the weapon let off two loud reports. Two bullets impacted the woman who claimed to be Shion Sonozaki, causing her to drop her knife, before she fell face down on the floor, dead.

Satoko quickly placed the Colt M1911 back into her pocket and grabbed the first aid kit and opened it. Satoko seized a handful of bandages and tried as best she could to wrap them around the knife wound in her arm as tightly as possible. After a few seconds, the bleeding began to subside.

Suddenly, Satoko heard footsteps coming behind her, along with what sounded like something being dragged along the stone floor. She turned around and saw the shadow of the something moving on the other side of the door. Satoko drew her pistol once again as whatever was on the other side of the door entered the room.

Satoko stared at the creature that had just entered the room, eyes wide in horror. The monster looked something like a cross between the classic depiction of an _oni_, or demon, like those said to inhabit the swamps around Hinamizawa and images of what Oyashiro-sama, the vengeful god of Hinamizawa's local shrine was said to look like.

The creature was vaguely humanoid, and about seven feet tall, exceedingly strongly built and armed with a five-foot tall _kanabo, _a wooden club studded with iron spikes, the weapon traditionally wielded by _oni. _It was clad in a traditional Japanese robe, with a sort of sash on top, both of which appeared to be stained with blood. The creature's face looked like that of a human, but had razor sharp teeth visible in its mouth, glowing red eyes, skin an unnatural yellowish color, and two sharp, downward pointing horns.

Satoko raised her handgun and fired at the creature as it slowly advanced on her, but this seemed to do nothing at all, the monster didn't even seem to notice the impact of the bullets as it moved forward, dragging its _kanabo. _

Satoko stepped backwards as she fired off an entire magazine to no effect, but she quickly found her self backed into a corner, pulling the trigger again and again, but hearing only the click of an empty chamber.

The "_oni"_ stood less than three feet from Satoko as it raised its _kanabo _over its head, and, as though in slow motion, brought it down on top of her. Satoko knew this was it, it was over... She saw her life flash before her eyes… her carefree childhood in Hinamizawa with Rika and the rest of her friends, the sudden end of those happy times, first with her abuse at the hands of her uncle, then the loss of Satoshi… and the disaster that claimed the lives of everyone in town. Her daily struggle to cope with the trauma of her past, her years in high school, culminating with her arrival in Silent Hill…

Everything went white in a flash of light. "Am I dead?", Satoko asked herself as she opened her eyes. After blinking several times, they image of her surroundings came into focus. Satoko Houjou was not dead, she was lying in the elevator of the Centennial Building in the town of Silent Hill, the elevator door now open onto the first floor lobby. The Colt M1911 was still clutched in her hands.

"What the hell just happened!", Satoko asked herself yet again, and yet again, knowing she would get no answer. Satoko activated the magazine release on her pistol, hoping to confirm what she had just gone through had not been real… but the pistol had no ammunition in the magazine, just like it had in the nightmare or whatever just happened.

At that moment, Satoko realized something else…. The wound from when "Shion" had stabbed her in the arm was gone, there wasn't even a scratch where previously there had been a gaping knife wound.

Satoko got up, noticing the spear she had been using was on the floor, having been broken yet again, while the scythe from the "nightmare" was nowhere to be found. It was no longer of any use to her now. Satoko was about to leave the room elevator when she noticed something that wasn't there before, a shred of paper lying on the floor.

Satoko picked up the sheet of paper and read, "The path to the truth shall take you through _Onigafuchi." _

"What?", Satoko asked, "_Onigafuchi, "_the demon's abyss", like that swamp near Hinamizawa. Wait… didn't the whole town used to be called _Onigafuchi?" _

"Is this saying I have to go back home?", Satoko thought, "After all this?"

Satoko thought for a moment, and found it unlikely, "Whoever is behind all the shit that's going on in this town would want me to stay here as long as possible… Beside, its not like I'm getting out of here with the town in this state, I doubt the bus route stops at the town of horrors! This must be another of those riddles, like the one on that gun locker. "_Onigafuchi" _must be a metaphor or something… it has to refer to somewhere in Silent Hill…."


End file.
